“It started as a conference and ended as a retreat.” These words were spoken by one of the attendees of the four day workshop entitled “Dual Language in Catholic Education Nation Summer Academy sponsored by Loyola Marymount University and Boston College at the end of June.
The words this man shared were part of the wrap up as some of the participants gave their testimony to the power of Catholic Educators gathering and sharing the good news of Catholic Education and more importantly for us the gift of Dual Language Immersion (DLI).
Why Dual Language Immersion? Many parishioners and alumni of St. Lawrence have asked this question as-well-as, many friends and family as I shared with them the change happening at our parish school. I had read about and researched the many aspects of the benefits of DLI, how it benefits the students and their family in the academic, social and their future careers. I could share how it opens our eyes to the greater diversity in our world in celebrating the cultures and people that surround us and the culture we will be sending our students into as the graduate our Catholic schools. All of this is true and gives powerful witness to, when done well, DLI can be a great benefit to students and their families.
But there is something greater and more important, it was something I knew in my bones but had a hard time expressing why we choose to begin the transition to become the first Catholic DLI school in the Diocese of San Jose.
What I remember most about the long days of discussion and presentation was the attention to detail in the forming of curriculum and the intentionality of placing the Catholic faith within the curriculum and the daily experience of students, teachers and families who attend Catholic schools.
Pope Pius XI wrote on the importance of Catholic education in this way, “Divini Illius Magistri #11 pope Pius XI “Education is essentially a social and not a mere individual activity. Now there are three necessary societies, distinct from one another and yet harmoniously combined by God, into which man is born: two, namely the family and civil society, belong to the natural order; the third, the Church, to the supernatural order.” (Divini Illius Magistri #11) It is the great reminder of how as a Catholic Church we embrace cultures and transform cultures with the presence of Jesus Christ. When our young people, through language immersion, experience the depths of a culture different from their familial heritage, they discover, and we as Church discover, how God’s presence unites us in a harmony of light and peace heard in the voices of angels that our children echo on earth.
Our goal, as we begin this journey at St. Lawrence the Martyr School, is to build on the decades of educational joy, a joy I lived as a teacher here from 1994 to 2000, and enter this time with delving deeper into the blessings of God. Bishop Tom Daly of Spokane (our former Auxiliary Bishop) said this in and interview with Pillar Catholic in February of 2023, “And so I think the Catholic school curriculum has to have an integrated approach of faith and knowledge and service. We have to try our best, but Catholic education can’t be just giving students the information — or not giving them the information, for that matter.”
As I noted above, the gift of DLI is the gift of being even more intentional in how we teach and pass on the faith. One school, Mater Dei in San Diego, chose to assign each class a different title of Mary, Our Blessed Mother, in exploring the culture of their communities and share this knowing our Mother with the whole school. It can be a reminder, to even those families who are not Catholic, how our faith, through Mary Mother of God, comes into each and every country and peoples.
In 2005, the year I was ordained a priest, the Bishops of the United Sates (USCCB) wrote this important call to caring for and rejoicing in the continued presence of Catholic Schools, “Our Catholic schools have produced countless numbers of well-educated and moral citizens who are leaders in our civic and ecclesial communities. We must work with all parents so they have the choice of an education that no other school can supply—excellent academics imparted in the context of Catholic teaching and practice.” (from the USCCB document “Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium” 2005)
I recently had a conversation with a graduate of St. Lawrence schools where she made this exact point. She described how her faith, nurtured and cared for in Catholic schools, has kept her united with friends from 40 years ago and continues to help her and her family cherish the gift of God’s grace and love. I believe that the gift of language and the teaching opening the eyes and hearts of our community to the joy of learning and sharing the cultural gifts, the faith expressions and the spiritual truths of our Catholic faith through a truly Catholic Dual Language Immersion school in Santa Clara will draw us into a better and more holy future of unity in and through Our Lord Jesus Christ.
God bless
Fr. Mark